Saraya - Love Has Taken Its Toll

Saraya were a New Jersey based hard rock band, named after their female lead singer (Sandi Saraya).  [As an aside, ERV previously featured a song from a different female-led hard rock band -- Femme Fatale's "Falling In and Out of Love" last May.]  The band formed in 1987, and originally was called Alsace Lorraine.  After some lineup changes, Saraya scored a recording contract, and their self-titled debut came out in 1989.

Unlike many other bands of this era, Saraya had a strong voice, and the music was influenced more by old school rock (Heart, Pat Benatar, etc.) than hair metal.  The album hit #79 on the charts, with both "Love Has Taken Its Toll" (#64) and "Back to the Bullet" (#63) charting, but not breaking the top 40.  While Saraya never quite found its audience, we were fans, and think that the first album, in particular, is very solid.

The band released a second album, 1991's When the Blackbird Sings (which did not do as well) before breaking up in the early 1990s.

Cool trivia fact:  Sandi Saraya was married (at one time) to Brian Wheat, the bass player for Tesla.